On Wednesday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat played what might become a preview for the upcoming NBA Finals with the final results giving the Heat a 98-93 victory over the Thunder. But what it also gave the NBA was a play to look at when it came to the flagrant foul Russell Westbrook placed on LeBron James in the second quarter.
Checking out the video below, the refs called it a Flagrant 1, which was the lesser of the two. A Flagrant 2 results in immediate ejection from the game. That's likely to help Westbrook's cause if the NBA wants to look closer into the foul. It is the highest profile player in the NBA who is involved, so it's not surprising that the foul is still being discussed. Still, Alex Groberman believes Westbrook likely didn't intend anything harmful.
James is much bigger and stronger than he is, and it's very possible that this was the only way that Westbrook felt like he could stop what was pretty much an unstoppable force. There really didn't seem to be much malicious intent there, it was just one of those fouls that ends up looking much worse than anyone involved really meant for it to be.
Check the evidence for yourself below:
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